Monday, September 10, 2012

Fracking About

As the Bullingdon Club are well aware, the north of England is bleak, nasty, self-pitying and full of northerners; hence, no doubt, the favourable terms granted to Cuadrilla, the company exploring Lancashire for opportunities to blast underground methane into the water supply. Cuadrilla (the name refers to the support team of a man whose job it is to torment cows in public) has been blithely ignoring the conditions of its planning permission by drilling beyond the cut-off date which was imposed to protect wintering birds. Given the Government's state of intense relaxation about private companies getting filthy with the environment, it is difficult to see why any restrictions were put in place at all; and Lancashire county council is doing its bit to redress the balance by having no current plans to hold Cuadrilla accountable for its conduct. Instead, and in accordance with modern British justice, a protester has been convicted and fined for trespassing on the company's site.